The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won

The former Confederate states have continually mythologized the South's defeat to the North, depicting the Civil War as unnecessary, or as a fight over states' Constitutional rights, or as a David v. Goliath struggle in which the North waged "total war" over an underdog South. In The Myth of the Lost Cause, historian Edward Bonekemper deconstructs this multi-faceted myth, revealing the truth about the war that nearly tore the nation apart 150 years ago.

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.

JJ says:"Beautiful, Heartbreaking, and Informative"

Publisher's Summary

This is the story of an Abraham Lincoln many Americans aren't at all familiar with: Lincoln as a reluctant husband in an abusive relationship; Lincoln who came within moments of fighting a duel with a political adversary; the first and only president to patent an invention; and the first future president to argue before the Supreme Court.

Though remembered as a Republican and even more as a figure that transcended partisan politics, Congressman Lincoln reveals Abraham Lincoln to be a master political strategist and a member of the Whig Party, the party to which he belonged for the majority of his career. Before he appealed to America's purest instincts, he argued, "The Whigs have fought long enough for principle and ought to begin to fight for success." Before "malice toward none", Lincoln bragged of his opponent, "I've got the preacher by the balls."

Lincoln the policymaker is remembered for his conduct of the Civil War and his handling of slavery. But even during his presidency, Lincoln was concerned with a broad array of issues. As a party leader, candidate for Congress, and member of the House, Lincoln worked on stimulus spending, international trade, banking, and even the post office. And it would be in the Thirtieth Congress that Lincoln would first move to halt the expansion of slavery, carefully crafting a bill for gradual emancipation in the District of Columbia.

This is the story of America at a critical time: the tale of a Congress that ended a conflict, unsure of what had been gained aside from a seat strapped to a powder keg; of a party aiming to win the presidency at all costs, paving the path for its own extinction; and of a country charting an irreversible course toward Civil War. Moreover, it is the story of the man who led the United States during its darkest hours and his role at the center of this gathering storm. This is the story of Congressman Abraham Lincoln.